Shades of Grey
by Daiz2241
Summary: Garcia is faced with a terrible decision which could cost her friends their lives
1. The Experiment

The day started off as a normal day for Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. She opened her eyes to the bottom of pink, sequin rimmed cat mask and slowly went through the process of her morning routine. After eating a bowl of sugar coated rice crispies and a glass of orange juice she headed to the bathroom to have a shower.

Life at Quantico was very stressful but her daily shower helped keep her mind under control. Little things like that were essentual for her not to have a breakdown in the middle of her office. Other things were her flirtful conversations with her Baby Boy, Morgan. She loved her team and couldn't imagine functioning if hey didn't all come back from a case. She expelled the thoughts from her mind as she ran into JJ whilst grabbing some coffee.

"Hey Garcia," JJ greeted grabbing some caffeine for herself as well.

"Hey JJ, you see my chocolate cupcake this morning?" Penelope asked scanning the bullpen.

"I assume you're talking about Morgan. He hasn't come in yet but if that was your cupcake that was left in the fridge last night I am sorry to inform you it has mysteriously disappeared." the agent said nearly giggling.

"My little friend, you will pay for eating my cupcake." Garcia said placing a hand on JJ's shoulder in a mock threat.

She walked to her bat cave round the corner from the bullpen and left JJ laughing to herself as she returned to her office to sort through the endless amount of cases she recieved. After slurping down some of the essentual black liquid she switched her computers on and started to play with a colourful slinky she kept on her desk. Looking up after a couple of minutes she realised none of her screens her turned on, thinking she hadn't pressed the button hard enough she pressed it again. Nothing happened. She crawled under the desk to check the cables at the back but found nothing was out of place. _Weird, _she thought. For a few minutes she stayed their looking for any disturbance in her vital equiptment untill Prentiss strolled in followed by JJ. They both looking annoyed and later confused at Garcia's position.

"Umm, what are you doing?" Prentiss asked bending down to see her friend tangled in a million wires.

"My computers won't switch on." she moaned looking like a eight year old who had just found out they weren't allowed to go to the park. "Can you help me?" she gestured to the wires.

After both JJ and Emily helped her out of the mess they all sat down around the faulty computers.

"Why are you guys here anyway?" she asked "I love to see my babies and all but won't Hotch get mad at you?"

"I doubt it. He isn't even here yet, none of the boys are." JJ said thinking they'd ditched but at the same time was kind of worried.

"You just got back from a case so thye might've overslept." Penelope suggested, as Rossi walked in.

"Here you are." he said relieved. "Where are they others?"

"Your guess is as could as mine." Prentiss said leaning back in her chair. Worry was clouding her mind but she tried to dismiss it for th benefit of the others.

"Aren't you concer-" Rossi was interrupted by a loud beeping coming of the computer stereos which made all of them jump and turn to the screens. Then it was completly silent as text started to appear on the centre screen, large enough for them all to read.

It read, _Don't wonder how I managed to hack your computers with their oh so flawless security walls but kow this. I have nothing against you or any of the members of your team, all i wish to do is conduct an experiment. Nothing more. I am sorry to say though but these are my guinea pigs._

Five screens flashed to life semingly on there own and showed live video feeds from five seperate rooms. Each of them held one very agitated person.

_As you can see I have managed to obtain your friends SSA Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid as well as two woman you will probably not recognise. There names are not important but you shuld know that one is a self harming 14 year old girl and the other an expectant mother. _

_Each of the locks to the doors are connected directly to the system I am sending you the videofeed on. As soon as a I unfreeze your computers you will be able to free as many as you can if eight minutes but we both know that you are not able to free them all in that time. Your have two minutes to decide. Remember, the ones left behind will suffer the consequences. Choose wisely._

"Oh my Gosh." Garcia said on the verge of tears staring blindly at the screens in front of her. He was right.


	2. Sleep

_The case the team had just finished didn't have the outcome that any of the team were hoping for, after searching for the unsub for a week they found him lying amongst the bodies of ten missing girls in their twenties. He had committed suicide as soon as he heard the siren, gunshot to the head, ice and clean. It wasn't a sight any of them would soon forget and in the mind of Spencer Reid it would never be forgotten. _

_He couldn't wait to get back to his apartment and sink into some much deserved sleep, maybe read a book or two to help send him off. The caffeine in his system keeping him from passing out through exhaustion was slowly wearing off and sleep would take hime soon. As he drove to his apartment he barely noticed the white, immaculately kept van which had been following him since his departure from Quantico. His tired eyes didn't pay attention to the vehicle slowly closing in behind him. He reached his apartment building and parked his car rather arkwardly on the dark street. Then he bent down to pick up his go-bag from the passenger seat but was stopped short when he heard the door open and felt a sharp pain shoot through the back of his head. Slumped forward in the seat his attacker dragged him out of his car with rough hands. Closing his eyes and subduing to unconsciousness he wondered how many more crap things could happen in his life. Black._

As the yound doctor started to wake he reached for his pillow to hold over his eyes. The light was to much and he wanted to carry on sleeping. He was so tired. His hand searched around his head to grasp nothing but air and thinking it was nothing to worry about Spencer reached to pull his duve over his head instead. Again feeling nothing was there he realised that he was not lying on his bed at all he was on a cold, stone floor.

The room itself was a fairly comfortable temperature but the heat failed to reach the floor he was lying on. Before opening his eyes he thought about the light coming in through the window but it didn't feel right. In the morning he could feel the sun slowly heat his body, rising from the east but this wasn't a warm light surrounding him it was small and concentrated on him. A light bulb hanging out of the ceiling. Still not putting this together in his mind he sat up to reach for his light switch, wanting to fall back to sleep. The shooting pain in his head as he sat up was enough to freeze him in place. Opening his eyes he remembered what had happened the night before. He had never made it to his comfortable bed, heck, he had never even made it to the door of his apartmet building. Someone had taken him and he didn't know where.

There wasn't much in the room he had been left in. There was no furniture, just a light bulb dangling above his head and two large, digital timers on the wall. Neither of them had started counting down and he was glad. Seeing as the first timer was only set to eight minutes he was worried about what he would have to do in that time.

"Hello?" he called, not expecting an answer.

As he turned around to see if there was anything else of interest in his prison he found that there was no obvious exit but there was a small camera hanging in the corner of the grey room, a red light showed that it was recording. He turned away from the watchful eyes of his captor, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing the fear sparking in his eyes. He couldn't survive here for long and he knew it. There was no food and no water anywhere in sight. If he wasn't set free soon then he would die here. He pushed the thought out of his mind as he turned to look at the recorded time on the second timer, one hour. He wouldn't be left here long enough to die of starvation because he had a part to play. He didn't know what it was but he wasn't looking forward to finding out.

After tapping all of the surrounding walls to check if they were hollow he sank to the floor, finding nothing. _How did I even get in here, _he wondered. When he looked up from his position on the floor the first timer began to tick down. There was no warning and he started to panic, what was he supposed to in eight minutes and what had he done to trigger the first timer.

"What did I do?" he asked facing the camera, starting to pace the room. Little did he now that this timer was not set for him.


	3. Choices

The remainder of the team were a blure in the eyes of Penelope Garcia. A million thoughts were going through her head at every moment. It would take around three minutes to crack each code to the doors. That wuld mean that in the eight minutes she was given there were probably only two people she could free from there prison, maybe three if she pushed to her limit but then what woul happen to the others? None of them deserved to be in this situation.

Hotch, he had a son who he needed to take care of. What would happen to poor little Jack if his Dad didn't com home? That family has already been through too much pin, Garcia thought. She has to get him out.

Drifting her eyes to the next screen she saw the 14 year old girl. The man had aid that she was self harming but the unsub could've lied about that to make Penelope leave her in the room. She was still so young though, only a child, with her whole life ahead of her. She couldn't just leave a little girl in that room to die. A kid that age would have family running around trying to find her. She had to get her out.

Morgan seemed to be the obvious one to leave in the cell. He didn't have anybody to go home to, a child or a wife. Penelope couldn't imagine her life without her baby boy. He had to be there so that she could look over all of the horrible things in her every day life and she knew that she wouldn't last long without him. It was selfish, but she had to save him too.

The other stranger she could see in the prison was extremely agitated. She still looked fairly young so maybe a couple of years older than Reid. She was curled up in the corner of her cave. The tchnical analyst could see tears dripping down her cheeks and onto her shirt whilst she clutched her stomach protectively. This woman was easily six months pregnant. What would happen to her baby if she didn't get out? She wished she knew but the unsub hadn't told her anything about what would happen afterwards, just that there would be, _consequences. _She had to save her too.

Reid's cell was the furthest to the right and her eyes fell open him last. He was tapping all of the walls around him trying to find a hollow one. She had seen Morgan and Hotch do it a few minutes ago. No luck. She started to wonder where this door was but there was no point for the unsub to make this game if she couldn't save anyone from their prison. Reid was still a child in Penelope's eyes, he Junior G-man. He had had a truly crap life so far and he couldn't be left in this place either. He had to be set free.

Looking back at the screen she realised she hadn't narrowed down her list at all. She still had five prisoners, none of them deserved to be in this place and she had to leave at least two people in it.

She put her face into her hand whilst her friends argued about what to do.

"How did this happen?" Prentiss asked.

"I don't know. It's nearly impossible to hack into the network. There are hundreds of pass codes and fire walls. No one can get in." Rossi said, thinking she meant getting access to the Penelope's computers.

"It's happened before." JJ mumbled almost inaudibly. She was thinking of the time when they were forced to play a game which almost cost Elle her life. This time she knew Garcia had done nothing to aid the unsub.

Before Rossi could ask what JJ meant Prentiss corrected his earlier mistake. "I was talking about how did the usub manage to get them all. I mean we saw Reid, Morgan and Hotch yesterday so he had to take them all in one night. He had to know exactly where we were to take them without being noticed."

"As well as that he has to have access to a large space to hold them all there as well as a large vehicle." Rossi deduced.

"He's also has to be amazing with computers to get into the system." Prentiss started, "he's probably unemployed as well so that he could have time to prepare all of this."

JJ realised that thye were trying to form a profile whilst they should b figuring out a way to save there friends. "Will you stop profiling for one minute?" she nearly shouted. They both turned to her but she turned to the screens. There was only a minute left on the timer and then Penelope would have to choose. Looking down towards her friend she noticed her face was in her hands and her breathing was hitched, trying to force back a sob.

"Garcia, do you know how to get them out?" Rossi asked. She gave a small nod.

"How long will it take?" Prentiss asked, hoping her friend would be quicker than the unsub thought.

Without looking at her friends she lifted her head from her hands and said, "about fifteen minutes to get them all out." This was not what the other wanted to hear. "I can't choose,"

"You don't have to," JJ said placing a reassuring hand on her friends shoulder.

"Umm, JJ." Prentiss said giving her a stern look. She couldn't promise this.

"Do you think you can get three of them out?" Rossi asked working out how long each person's lock would take to open. Once again Garcia nodded.

"Who needs to be out the most?" Prentiss asked looking at the others. None of them wanted to start choosing but as the time slowly ticked down they would have to make a choice soon.

"Her," Rossi pointed to the cell with the pregnant woman on, "she's the most urgent one." The others nodded in agreement, all looking at the stranger enviously.

"The little girl too." Prentiss said. She was sobbing in the corner of her cell. They could see eye liner and mascara running down her face.

"What about Hotch?" JJ asked thinking of his son at home. She couldn't imagine Henry growing up without her.

"Reid's still a kid." Prentiss said looking at the agent who had now slumped to the floor, Rossi odded

"But-" Garcia's voice hitched as tears started to roll down her face. She could see where this was going, they were going to make her leave Hotch and Morgan behind. She couldn't imagine working here without either of them.

"Five seconds left." Prentiss said, "The two girls and Reid, okay?" she told Garcia. JJ looked like she wanted to put up a fight stayed silent.

As soon as the timer reached zero her screens were in her control as she started working on the videofeed of the womans cell. After a few minutes part of the wall slid away and she cautiously left. Then her screen went blank. The girl she had to get her out next but in the stress of it all she accidently opened Hotch's cell.

"Wait! No!" she said to herself at her mistake. The others stayed quiet behind her as Hotch walked out and his screen went black. On impulse she realised that her team didn't have a clue what she was doing so she could let Morgan go... without a second thought she raced to get her baby boy out of the cell. She silently apoligised to Reid and the nameless girl as Morgan's cell opened in the same fashion of the others before all of the reamaining screens went dark.

"Garcia, what happened?" Rossi demanded when only one of the people they chose to be set free actually were.

"I don't know. I must've gotten the code mixed, I-" she broke dow crying in the guilt of what she just did.

JJ moved to comfort her but before she could another note started to type itself on the computer and all were silent.

_Well, that was interesting. Not quite what I was expecting. Your part in this study is over however you may watch the remaining test subjects from this link if you with to. Your participation was much appreciated._

A link to a website appeared below the text and Garcia clicked on it, not really wanting to see what was ahead.


	4. Timers

Reid watched as the minutes ticked down on the first timer. He hadn't been given any warning or clues to what he was supposed to do. In his mind it didn't make any sense at all.

Was that how long he was supposed to last in here? When the clock reahed zero would something happen? As he started to hyperventilate he realised something, the room he was in looked completely air he started looking around for any type of hole he could breathe through. Standing up again he rushed around his cell trying to find holes in the walls and floors. He was unsuccessful. Maybe he only had eight minutes of air left in his prison. No, that wouldn't be acurate. You can't time to the second how much someone would breath and even if it was only a rough estimate then why had the timer only just started? After settling back down on the floor trying to relax his breathing his brain started to work more like usual.

Taking into consideration the second timer and the fact that he had not been informed of what to expect he decided that the first timer was not for him. Someone else had something to do in this time period but he couldn't work out what that was. This calmed him somewhat. Well it did until the clock ticked down to zero.

**...**

"Can't you trace this video as well?" Prentiss asked. They had just clicked on the link showing the remaining to prisons. Nothing had happened yet but both occupants looked equally confused.

"It's not like the last one, it isn't connected to the video in the same way. I'm assuming he has changed the lock so that it opens manually." Garcia said, still feelig guilty. She might've just signed one of her best friends death certificates.

"Garcia, can you enlarge this?" Rossi asked leaning in towards the computer. He had also noticed bth Reid and the girl lookin confused, he had also seen them both looking at exact same spot in their cells. "There's a timer." he pointed to it.

"Can you make out the times on it?" JJ said leaning in to get a better look. As Garcia enlarged it the times became to pixilated to make out. "The first one looks like it's at zero and I don't know about the second."

"Here," Garcia said pulling up the old videofeed. "Wait the times different on the first one," she said playing it.

"Look, it's already counting down." Prentiss noticed. "Eight minutes. That's why they're confused because nothing happened." The others took a minute to understand this but then they all realised that they were wondering why the clock had counted down from an apparently random eight minutes. Thye all looked down guiltily.

"The second timer is set to one hour." Rossi said making out the number. "Has that started yet?" They didn't want to know what would happen to the remaining captives in that hour. Looking back at the current video they all breathed a sigh of relief when it showed that it had not started yet.

A phone started to ring and JJ started to look through her pockets. It was an unknown number. "Special Agent Jenifer Jaraeu of the FBI," she stated. "Hotch...yeah...is Morgan...okay...we'll be there soon." she hung up the phone and turned to the others.

"Where are they?" Rossi asked, frantic.

"They're about half a mile away from here. The other woman is with them. They said that someone kept them in a small room and when the doors opened they were hit over the back of the head. I guess the unsub doesn't want us to know where Reid and the girl are being kept."

She walked out the door and Prentiss followed while Rossi left to start to build a profile. Garcia sat in her chair feeling completely powerless. After a few minutes the second timer started to count down.

**...**

Reid started to hear a noise which sounded like machinery moving. He started to panic and backed away from the noise as to the far wall. He also noticed that the second clock had started ticking at the same time but it didn't seem so important. Before his eyes one of the walls, which he had previously been leaning against, started to life revealing a second room. It looked exactly the same as his except that a young girl was cowaring in the corner. Shaking from head to toe.

"Who-who are you?" she stuttered.


	5. Insane

**Guys, sorry for not updating yesterday. Twas my b-day and my friends didn't like the fact that I tried to ditch them for my laptop. Thanks for the awesome reviews, the fact that someone has actually read it makes my day. Anyway here's the next chapter. I felt like writing it in 1st person. Enjoy!**

**...**

"Who are you?" The girl asked again. She was desperately trying to get further away from me but the fact that she was in the oppisite corner to me made it impossible to do that.

"I'm Dr Spencer Reid," I said putting my hand up, about to wave but the girl just stared at me like I was insane. I realised that I didn't need to put the title "Dr" in front of my name. I was probably making her uncomfortable.

"What's your name?" I asked after a minute. She just nodded and started looking around my room. She hadn't left the corner but she had uncurled from her position and was not sitting with her legs crossed. When it didn't look like she was going to answer me I did the same. Her room was a clone of mine, right down to the camera hanging of the ceiling. I got up to have a better view of her room and without thinking moved closer to the nameless girl. She flinched when I didnthis but I wasn't looking at her, I was looking at her timer which had also started to tick down from one hour. It was now read 00:58:45 I started to wonder what was supposed to happen in this time. Did we have to do something or just wait it out like the last one. My questions were answered when a voice started to boom out from unseen speakers.

_"Congratulations, you have been chosen for the final stage of my experiment. In the next hour you will be faced with many descisions but only one matters. Live or die?" _

I looked towards the girl who had terror in her eyes. I didn't know what this man wanted and I certainly didn't want to play this game.

_"As you have probably noticed this room is air tight. Within five minutes the amount of oxygen in this room will be critically. When you will no longer be able to breathe to oxygen masks will fall from the ceiling. The one attached to a green tube will supply pure oxygen however the one attached to the blue tube will supply a mixture of oxygen and dilute poisonous gas. Breathing through the blue tube's gas mask will kill you after 30 minutes, slow and painful."_

This man was obviously not very smart. Neither of them had to breathe the poisonous gas if they just shared the oxygen mask. I looked over to the girl she was smiling slightly. She'd already figured this out.

_"Don't look so happy. Oxygen will only be pumped through the green mask if the gas from the blue mask has been breathed in. You must make a choice who breathes in what. When one of you dies the doors will opened and the survivor will be free to go. Whilst this game is being played the two far walls will slowly close in on you so if you both stay alive then you will both die. Live or die? Life or death? It is your choice"_

I was lost for words. This unsub had thought of everything, from every possible angle. Unless we were reccued we would both die here but why give the option. This unsub needs comtrol so why is he making this our choice? Why us?

"Sophie," the girl said walking owards me with her hand outstretched.

"What?" I asked confusd.

"You asked what my name was," I took her hand and shook it. I could see tears in her eyes but she was trying to be strong. I admired that.

After letting go of her hand I noticed how stuffy it was becoming in this small room but the thought left my mind when the two gas masks fell from the ceiling and dangled in mid air by two tubes. One green and one blue.

**...**

JJ reached the coordinates Hotch had called from and started to look around for him. Prentiss was sitting in the passenger seat and an ambulance was following them, incase any of the three were hurt.

"There!" Prentiss pointed towards a spot where two men were standing and a woman was sitting down, leaning against the wall of a disused building. JJ parked the black SUV a few feet away from there friends whilst the ambulance parked behind them. As they got out some medics started to walk towards the Hotch, Morgan and thw woman. Prentiss and JJ waited patiently until they were done checking the others were alright. After ten minutes the two agents walked to the SUV but the woman went to the back of the abulance with the medics.

"Is she alright?" Prentiss asked concerned.

"Yeah, they're just making sure there's nothing wrong with her baby." Morgan said.

"Are you two alright?" JJ asked.

"yeah but what happened?" Hotch asked.

"We'll explain on the way back." Prentis said walking towards the passenger door.

**...**

Before thinking I grabbed Sophie's hand and pulled her towards the green mask. I wasn't going to let her die. When she didn't immediately put it on, trying to be stubborn I suppose, I forced it on her head and the reached for the blue one. There was nothing we could do so for now we just had to play the game. After taking a few breaths I realised the odd feeling of the air I was breathing in and how it left a sting in the back of my throat. For now I could ignore it.

As the tubes attached to the masks were long enough to move around whilst still breathing I decided to check the walls. They didn't seem to be moving but when I placed my hands on it I noticed that it was slowly moving inwards. Insanely slowly but moving all the same. I moved towards the middle and sat down on the floor. After a few minutes she came ad sat next to me. I knew that we would both die if we kept this up but I didn't want to do anything now. I looked at the timer 00:46:28. There was still hope, insane hope, but hope all the same.


	6. The profile

00:39:22

Sophie was sitting on the floor of their prison. Wondering if they deserved this, she knew she did but did he? He'd basically just signed his death certificate for me, she thought. She looked over to him. He was also sitting but he wasn't looking at her he was looking at the wall.

**...**

"What do you mean, she had to choose?" Hotch asked in the car. They had almost reached their headquarters and Prentiss was filling him and Morgan in on what was happening.

"There was a time limit on the link to the locks and she couldn't let you all out. We originally planned to save the girl but she panicked and mixed up some codes, or something." Prentiss explained. Morgan had his doubts about this.

"What's Garcia doing now? and is Rossi building a profile?" Hotch asked in case mode.

"Garcia is trying to hack into the second link but I don't think she's having much luck. She thinks the locks have been hanged to mannual and the IP address is changing every 15 seconds so she can't track it" Prentiss said telling them what Garcia had tols them when she called earlier. "Rossi left to build a profile when we left but there's nothing personal about this, so I don't know if we're going to have much luck."

"We'll help him when we get there. Have you ID the girl?"

"No, she won't look directly at the camera." Prentiss said.

"What's happening to Reid now?" Morgan asked, concerned for his Pretty Boy.

"Nothing when we left but there's a timer in his room so something might happen soon." JJ said. As if on cue Prentiss' cell phone rang, it was Garcia.

"Hey Garcia...what...okay, calm down we'll be th-...no. Just tell Rossi...yeah...they're fine. Bye." Prentiss hung up the phone and turned to the others. "The timer's started."

JJ's grip tightened on the steering wheel while the other three in the car stared at each other shock and worry painted accross there faces.

**...**

00:35:16

The sting in his throat had spread to his lungs. As if a slow and steady brn was spreading through his body. He kept on breathing though, for the girl, they woldn't both die. The room had shrunk to the same size his had originally been, more or less.

**...**

The team stormed into Garcia's office when they reached Quantico. JJ left momentarily to get Rossi from the conferentce room where he was building the profile but they then accomponied the others.

"Thank god you guys are alright." Rossi said reaching Morgan and Hotch.

"Yeah but Reid isn't." Morgan said as they entered the bat cave. It wasn't really big enough for all of them to fit in but they managed to.

Garcia was sitting at her desk and didn't even seem to acknowledge the others entering. She was busy typing at a million miles an hour whilst her eyes were glued to a single screen. The remains of her eye makeup was in streaks down her cheeks. She hadn't bothered to clean it up because she new more tears would come.

The others eyes had moved to the screen she was staring at. In it Reid and the girl were sitting down leaning aginst the walls with gas masks over there heads. Reid looked half asleep but the young girl ws frantically twitching and fidgiting.

"What's going on?" Rossi asked looking at the screen but on another screen she played a voice clip.

"He gave them a choice," she said in a low voice which cracked in the middle.

_"__C__ongratulations, you have been chosen for the final stage of my experiment. In the next hour you will be faced with many descisions but only one matters. Live or die? As you have probably noticed this room is air tight. Within five minutes the amount of oxygen in this room will be critically low. When you will no longer be able to breathe to oxygen masks will fall from the ceiling. The one attached to a green tube will supply pure oxygen however the one attached to the blue tube will supply a mixture of oxygen and dilute poisonous gas. Breathing through the blue tube's gas mask will kill you after 30 minutes, slow and painful. Oxygen will only be pumped through the green mask if the gas from the blue mask has been breathed in. You must make a choice who breathes in what. When one of you dies the doors will open and the survivor will be free to go. Whilst this game is being played the two far walls will slowly close in on you so if you both stay alive then you will both die. Live or die? Life or death? It is your choice." _

Silence plagued the office for a few minutes whilst everyone took in what they had heard. For a few seconds they hoped to see Reid wearing the green gas mask but looking up all hope was lost. Reid wouldn't let a little girl die and they all new it. The tapping of computer keys brought them back to reality and everyone started working at inhuman speeds.

**...**

00:28:56

His breathing had started to become laboured and he didn't know how long he would be able to breath normally. He so longed to sleep but he knew that the girl needed him to be awake so she wouldn't starve of oxygen. This game was to risky he thought, killing one could kill the other. Ho couldn't be bothered to figure out how long he had been breathing in the poison it hurt to much to think. His breathing hitched for a moent and he couldn't seem to start again. The girl looked over to him, worry in her eyes, she couldn't breathe. He suddenly coughed and pulled his mask of. Blood was rising up his throat and onto the ground next to him. He looked to the girl who was going red where she was holding her breath. She started to move towards him but he held up his hand and put the mask back on. Taking in a deep breath of the toxic gas he looked up at the girl. She looked fine again but she started to scoot closer towards Reid. He wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to help him or because she wanted o be further away from the walls.

**...**

"Okay, what do we have so far." Hotch asked his team back in the conference room.

"Following the speed limit, he wou;d have to own a building a maximum of six miles from where we were dumped. He probably owns a van or small truck." Morgan poineted out.

"He's unemployed, he was obviously stalking you guys before taking you to know your routine. Amazing with computers and physically fit. Highly organised and probably doesn't know us personally." Prentiss added.

"I'm not so sure about that, he seems to be focused on Garcia and how he is her superior. They might've crossed paths."

"Morgan go tell Garcia to check records of everyone who owns a building large enough to keep you all in in the area and cross reference it with people who have degrees in computer science." Hotch ordered.

"You got it." Morgan said.

"Something about this doesn't make sense though. If he wants Garcia to sufer then why let her choose who is let go. She could've just left the two women and freed Reid." Prentiss said.

"Yeah but like you said, we're only out because she mixed up the code. He knows that she would've fely compelled to save the two girls." Hotch said.

"Hmm," was all Prentiss said.

"Guys, the woman you were with she's alright by the way and so is her baby." JJ said stepping into the room with her phone in her right hand. She was wearing a helf smile that looked forced.

**...**

00:21:37

Sleep. That's all Spencer Reid could think about right now. He wasn't even sure why he was awake but he knew that he was supposed to stay awake. Someone was sitting next to him, proping him up but e couldn't remember who it was. He forgot that he was supposed to stay awake and let his eyes drift shut.


	7. Saved

00:19:52

Sophie was staring intently at the man who was giving his life foe hee. He didn't know her and she didn't know him but he was willingly dying for her. She started to cry as she looked at the man, Spencer Reid, he looked young, really young, maybe in his early twenties. His hair was long and nearly reached his shoulders, it probably would if it didn't flick at the end. His eyes, they were a beautiful rich brown but she couldn't see them now. His eyes were shut but she wasn't to worried because she was still breathing so he was to.

**...**

Garcia had entered the conference room with two laptops one of them held the feed of Reid and the girl whilst the other had a list of 56 names. They were currently trying to cut it down.

"Take off anyone who is employed full time." Hotch said.

"38" was all Garcia said, that was still to much.

"Look to see if any of them have been turned down or fired from a jo in the last five years." Rossi suggested.

"18" Garcia said slightly more cheery. They were close.

"Take off any married or with children living with them." Prentiss said.

"6" Garcia squeaked. "Samuel Anderson, 32, Jack Robson, 28, Lily Brown, 26, Harry Jones, 35, Peter Johnson, 27 and Nicolas James, 31."

"Take of the girl, this isn't something a woman would do, not personal enough." Rossi said

"Okay."

"Alright, any criminal records?" Morgan asked.

"Nope." she said annoyed.

Morgan was annoyed to, he knew that the unsub was on this list and he was becoming more and more frustrated. "What are the jobs they were turned down or fired from?" he asked.

"Mostly tech jobs for different companies around here, nothingnspecial but there-" The technical analyst froze.

"Garcia?" Hotch asked.

"One of them as turned down from a job here, my job." she said quietly.

"Who?" Prentiss asked frantically.

"Nicolas James," she started to type away insanely quickly and the scribbled down on a piece of paper an address. "Here, no go." she poined towards the door to enphasize the command.

The rest of the team had left, apart from JJ who was currenty trying to distract the press. None of them knew how it had gotten out that three agents had been kidnapped but they had there suspicions about the woman they left at the hospital. Garcia turned her full attention to the screen Reid was on. He had passed out but he was still alive or the girl would've been set free.

"Hold on Reid." she whispered, willing him to hear her.

**...**

00:16:23

Reid was drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness but he was aware of what was going on most of the time. He had had to remove his mask two more times to cough up blood. The girl had moved away from him slightly so that she wouldn't get blood on her. Does it really matter, Reid thought.

The girl had tried to switch masks with the man a few times after she realised that he was breathing at very irregular intervalls but he simply pushed her away with the little strength he had. After yet another session of throwing up blood he failed to but the mask back on and passed out on the floor.

"That's it." Sophie said taking of her own mask and replacing it with his, they would both die at this rate. She put the oxygen mask on reid and checked for a pulse, it was slow but it was still there.

She immediately noticed the sting in her throat and wondered how much pain the man had been in over that last half hour. Looking at the walls she pulled the man closer towards the middle. The room was now the width of a lrge closet. They would both die soon.

Reid regained consciousness after a minute and noticed something different about the girl, she was wearing the wrong mask and his breathing wasn't as laboured as before she ha swapped them over. No, he thought. He leant against the wall and moved to a sitting position, every breath hurt. The girl was looking at him intently. He pointed at the wall and then to her mask. After a moment she understood. He had to die or they both would. He put his hand out for the mask but the girl swapped them over herself. She had tears running down her cheeks as she did this and started to sob after she was done. Curling up in a ball she looked away from the dying man whom she couldn't save.

**...**

The sirens were blearing as Hotch weaved in and out of traffic towards the house. None of them spoke, they were just half sitting in their seats waiting to bolt out of the SUV as soon as they could. The timer Morgan had set to his watch read that there was just over ten minutes left until the walls would kill both of them. They needed to be there now!

Turning the corner they parked right infront of the house they had been told to go to, forgeting that the sirens had probably warned James that they had arrived.

Morgan and Prentiss moved around to the back door whilst Hotch and Rossi kicked down he front door. The unsub had ran from the front room. Morgan had made a grab for him as he reached the back door but he was stabbed in the shoulder by an unseen kitchen knife. James then dropped the knife and made a run for it.

"Go." Morgan shouted at Prentiss who then ran after him. Morgan pressed his hand against his shoulder as Rossi came out to him.

"Medics are on the way." He said bringing him a kitchen towel.

"Just find Reid!" was all he said, leaning his head back in pain.

Rossi entered the house and saw that Hotch had found a large basement with a hallway and seperate rooms. They had a mannual lock on them and only two were still locked. Hotch moved to open one while Rossi moved to the other. When Rossi open his dooe he was met with another wall directly infront of him so he moved to help Hotch. After opening the final door they were greeted with a young girl who frantically took of her mask and ran to remove Reid's who was now lying on the floor. He shut his eyes as he saw people moving towards him.


	8. Breathing

**Hi, I just can't seem to stop writing. This will be my 3rd chapter today! I bet I'll have major writers block tomorrow. Anyway, enjoy!**

**...**

The waiting room of the hospital was nearly empty seeing as it was only just past midday. The whole ordeal with Reid had only lasted two hours but to the team it seemed so much more than that. The girl, Sophie Millan, had a small conscussion from the wound on her head but other than that she was alright. They wanted to keep her overnight to make sure that the small amount of the poisonous gas she had breathed in didn't have any lasting effect on her. Morgan was also in a hospital room after he had been stabbed but nothing serious had been hit in his shoulder and he should be back at work soon. They knew that he would be fine but Reid was a different story.

_"Hey! Wake up!" The little girl said shaking the shoulders of the young man. He didn't respond. Hotch moved towards him while Rossi called for the urgent need of a medic and then rushed towards Reid. He wasn't breathing. Hotch started CPR to try and get him to breath but nothing happened. The little girl was sitting in the corner of the room and started crying again. Her gaze fixed on the man._

_"C'mon Reid." Rossi shouted as the medics came streaming in and the were forced out of the way. After the defibrillator had been used twice Reid started to cough up a lot of blood and then started to breathe somewhat normally. _

_"Let's get him to the ambulance, fast." one of the medics said. He was put on a strtecher with an oxygen mask on but he was still unconscious. _

_"Can I ride with him?" Hotch asked as they reached the ambulance. _

_"Sure." A woman said to him. As one ambulance drove away the girl was put into another one with Morgan whilst Rossi and Prentiss followed in the SUV. Prentiss had managed to catch the James and the police had taked him in._

_In the ambulance Reid flatlined twice but they managed to stabalise him when they reached the hospital. Hotch and the others were forced to wait and leave their friend again._

"This is taking to long" Rossi said pacing the waiting room. The others ignored him, JJ and Garcia had turned up two hours ago but there had been no news since arriving. Prentiss had gone to see Morgan but after ten minutes of arkward silence she had left to return to the others.

Everyone looked up when a doctor holding a clip board entered the waiting room. "Spencer Reid." she called. They all stood up and hurriedly moved towards her. "Hello, I am Dr Adams, your friend has been put on a ventilator because of the trouble he was having breathing but there is if he will wake up soon. He was bleeding into his lungs when he had arrived but that was probably a result of the defibrillator. I am also worried about the gas which he was breathing in as it seems to have done servere damage to his lungs and throat and there's the possibility of brain damage as well as damage to his other organs. I have sent of his blood work to determine the gas but there is no telling whether determining the gas will improve his chances of survival."

Everyone looked down, this was not what they wanted to hear. The thought of losing their little genius was unbearabley, it was all to much for Garcia and she stated sobbing into JJ's shoulder. "He is currently in the ICU if you wish to see him." the doctor said.

The all noded and started to follow, "I'll just go and tell Morgan." Rossi said turning to walk in the other direction. The others hardly noticed that he had left.

**...**

The room Reid was in was small and became cramped with all of the people in it. They all moved to either sit or stand around Reid. The young agent was also surrounded by beeping machinery with different wires connected to every part of him they could see. This pushed both JJ and Prentiss over the top and both started to sob quietly with Garcia who was still crying from before. Prentiss composed herself by the time Rossi returned but no one made a move to say anything.

**...**

Reid's mind was working annoyingly slowly as he tried to register what was happening. Hotch was talking to him but then he wasn't. Voices he didn't recognise then started talking but then they were gone to. Lights were flashing around him but then they were gone to. A beeping, that was there to but then it wasn't.

**...**

The team was forced out of the room as doctors ad nurses rushed in. Reid's heart rate monitor had flat lined and they were trying to revive him as his friends were pushed into the hall. Nothing had happened but everything had just stopped. Prentiss had started to cry again and both Hotch and Rossi had lost there normal composure. This was to much.

A doctor had walked out of the room and as she walked towards them the team recognised her as Dr Adams. "We've managed to keep him stable but I think that you should leave and let him rest, you'll be able to come back tomorrow." The others started to walk away but Garcia stood still, frozen.

"Please can I stay." she whispered still in tears. The Doctor took one look at her and nodded.

"Are you going to be alright," Hotch asked.

"Yeah, Morgan's here as well, ayway," she said once again entering the room and sitting in the chair closest to Reid took his hand. She was determined to stay awaks until he was. Looking dow at his face she wondered how she could ever leave him behind.


	9. Voice

**Hi, sorry for not writing in a while but I just haven't had the time to write and upload this. Thanks for waiting, reading and reviewing! Enjoy! **

**...**

The beeping noise was there again but this time there was more noise. People shouting and rushing around. I started to panic but then they were calmer. I didn't know what had happened but they were quieter, even joyful. Then the voices left and a different one appeared. This voice was familiar. I couldn't put a name to it but I knew it meant I was safe. The voice was close and reassuring, keeping me safe from the world. Suddenly the scent of vanilla filled my nostrils and I was relaxed as I breathed it in deeply, starting to drift away. I drifted off to the world of dreams whilst the voice talked to me, keeping me safe.

**...**

"Miss, Miss." A nurse carfully shook Garcia awake from the chair she had fell asleep in, next to Reid's side.

"Hmm. Oh, sorry." she said sitting up straight in the chair and cursing herself for falling asleep. "Do you need me to move?"

"No, Miss. I just wanted to inform you that there is a recliner over there. You might be more comfortable there if you wist to stay with your friend." The oddly polite nurse nodded to the corner of the room. It's to far from him, Penelope thought.

"No thanks, I'm good here." she said.

The nurse moved away from her and started to look over her Junior G-man. Checking the IV and hert monitor. She had noticed that a blood bag now hang not far from the IV. One more wire piercing the skin of her little genius. The guilt the clouded her mind was almost to much for her to bare. He wouldn't be in this place if she hadn't let him, if she stuck to the original plan but the Hotch or Morgan would be in the same place. Her mind was arguing with itself and she didn't even realise that the nurse was talking to her again.

"-so you might as well go home and rest." was all she caught.

"What?" Garcia was confunsed as she looked towards the nurse who was wearing an annoyed expression at having to repeeat herself.

"We've increased his pain medication so it's less likely that he'll wake up. He probably won't even register that you're here so you miht as well go home ad rest. You can come back later." The nurse looked expectantly at the unwelcomed visitor and she stood up, scared by her gaze. This one isn't as nice as Dr Adams, she thought as she let go of Reid's hand which she didn't realise she was holding.

When she moved out of the room the heart monitor started to speed up. The nurse looked confused at the patient and then the machinery. If he didn't calm down he could go into cardiac arrest. Penelope rushed back to his side and attampted calming him down as the nurse tried to move her away, she ignored her.

"Reid. It's okay, your safe now. Just calm down." she repeated over and over again, taking his hand and squeezing it lightly so that the pressure wouldn't hurt him in anyway. Slowly the machines rapid beeping slowed to a resting heart rate and he stabilised. Penelope was relieved and the nurse looked at her in wonder.

"I suppose you can stay." she said leaving the room quickly. Garcia took back her seat next to Reid and continued to talk to him, calming words of reassurence.

In the back of her mind she felt worse. He needed her there but she was the one who put him there. She made a promise to herself that she would protect him this time.


	10. Explanations

JJ and Morgan were standing next to a coffee machine down the hall from the room where Reid was being kept. It had been three days since he came here ad had shown much improvement. Yesterday he had bee take off of the vetilator after the doctors were covinced that he was able to breathe on his own but he still hadn't woken up. With eah day passing everyone became increasingly worried about the possibility of brain damage but they kept it to themselves.

Right now only Prentiss was sitting in with Reid but it had taken both Hotch and Rossi to get Garcia out of there earlier. It had been two days and she hasd never left his side for longer than ten minutes and even then she became anxious. The team had been told about how she calmed him so easily when he had started to unconsciously panic and she had become paranoid about leaving his side.

"He's gonna be okay right?" Morgan questioned as they slowly walked back to the room.

"Of cours he is. He's Reid." JJ said not meeting his eye.

"You remember what the doctor said, they coudn't treat the poison in his blood." Morgan said sounding like he was giving up.

"That's why they gave him the blood transfusion. He'll be fine, he has to be." JJ said, the last part mostly to herself.

They stared in the window to their friends room. Not willing to walk inside but just wanting to watch. He looked so peaceful, just like he was sleeping.

"He'll be out of here soon." JJ said still looking down at her friend.

**...**

Reid was confused. Someone else was here but not the person who had been there before. He wanted to panic but he didn't because this voice was familiar as well, he knew it but he put a name to the voice. He needed to see this person and try and find the name. It took a lot of effort but he opened his eyes and turned to face the voice. Prentiss, he realised it was her immediately and felt stupid for not remembering her earlier. She was still talking but she was looking down at her hands so she hadn' seen him open his eyes.

"-you know Morgan is gonna kill you if you don't wake up soon but I suppose he'll have to get through Garcia fir-" she was interrupted by a voice weak from disuse.

"Where is she?" Reid asked, realising she was the voice he had been listening to. She looked up shocked but then broke into a smile.

"Reid, you're awake!" she nearly shouted, reaching over to grab his hand. "Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere? I can get the nurse..." she trailed of as she calmed down.

"I'm fine." he said, his voice still weak. The young doctor cleared his throat but it didn't help much. "Where are the others?" he asked.

"Garcia's at home and Hotch and Rossi are with Nicolas James and JJ is getting coffee with Morgan." she said, looking towards the door and wondering if she should go and get them.

"Who's Nicolas James?" Reid asked confused. He didn't know anyone by that name.

"Oh, he was the one who took you and the others." Prentiss said quietly, not really wanting to remember what had happened.

"Others...how's Sophie?" he asked concerned.

"She's fine. She left the hospital a few days ago and she's with her family now." Prentiss reassured him. "You saved her."

"Wasn't much." he mumbled.

"Yeah it was Reid. Anyone else would've let her die to save themselves."

"She's just a kid, I don't think anyone could watch her die."

Prentiss left to tell the others that Reid was a waks but by the time they reached the room he was already asleep again. The only indication that he had been awake was that he was now in a partial sitting position with his head tilted towards Prentiss' chair.

**...**

A few hours later Prentiss had left and Hotch was sitting in the room with Rossi. They had been informed about him waking up for a few minutes by Prentiss over the phone and saw it as great news and hoped that he would wake up again soon. They thought that it would be better if Garcia was not informed about it so she didn't need to worry about him and they planned to tell her in the morning after some much needed sleep.

"Hmm." Reid mumbled to himself without opening his eyes. Both men looked up when nothing happened they looked to each other to cheack that he wasn't imagining it.

"Reid?" Rossi asked.

"Hmm, what?" he asked as his eyes fluttered open confused. Hadn't he just been talking to Prentiss?

"Reid are you alright?" Hotch asked as the young man looked at him confused.

"Yeah," I must've fallen asleep, he told himself.

He sat up but it was hard with all of the wires surrounding him. He immediately moved to rip the needles out of his skin, not wanting whatever was currently in his blood stream but Rossi and Hotch grabbed his hands before he could. He looked at them with scared eyes but neither men let go.

"No!" was all Hotch said.

Spencer started to relax and leant back against the pillows waiting to be released.

"I thought you were with Nicolas James." Reid said remembering what Prentiss had told them earlier and trying to distract them. They both looked shock that he knew and moved back to their seats.

"Yes. He's in federal custody right now." Rossi said hesitently, he didn't know the whole story but he knew pieces it seemed.

"Why did he do it?" Reid asked curious.

"To get back at Garcia. He tried to get a job in the FBI a few years ago as a technical analyst." Rossi explained.

Spencer was confused, why had someone gone after him and a girl he didn't know? This thought stayed in his mind as he shut his eyes and once again enetered the world of dreams.


	11. Vanilla

After Rossi and Hotch sat staring intently at a sleeping Reid for half an hour the decided that he probably wouldn't wake up again that day and got up to leave. There was paperwork on their desks which needed to be done and no one else was there to do it. They would check in on Reid again in the morning but right now he needed sleep.

**...**

It was nearly pitch black when Spencer woke again and as he lookd around paniced a hand grabbed his and he couldn't help jumping away from it.

"Reid, Reid it's me. Calm down you're okay, you're safe." It was Garcia.

"Oh." he said in a raspy voice. He slowly moved back towards her and tried to make his eyes focus. It was hard to see her in the dim light and he could only just make out her outline. Reid once again tried to clear his throat but ended up coughing uncontrollably. Garcia immediately moved to rub circles on his back whilst he tried to stop coughing. After a minute he stopped but his breathing was ragged. She continued to sit on the edge of his back with a hand on his back whilst he sat still obviously in pain.

"Are you alright?" she kew it was a stupid question to ask but she did it out of habit. He nodded in answer, not trusting his voice. As he sat there and breathed heavily he noticed a familiar scent. He looked towards his friend and realised that it was her.

"Vanilla." he said quietly.

"What?" she asked confused.

"You smell like vanilla." he said probably not expecting anything further on the subject but she continued anyway.

"Yeah, it's my perfume. I bought it the other day." she explained. He sat back slightly and shut his eyes whilst taking in a deep breath. He let the sweet smell fill overwhelme his senses and he felt safe and protected in its embrace. She moved away from him and back to the seat by Reid's bed which she was previously sitting on.

"I'm so sorry Reid." she said her eyes filling with tears at her friends broken state.

At this Reid was confused. The unsub might've targeted her but it was not like she could've done anything to stop him, it wasn't her fault that she got a job that he wanted. "Why?" he asked.

"I...I could've saved you." she whispered.

"No you couldn't have." he said confidently. She wished that someone would've told him the entire story so that she wouldn't have to.

"Yes I could've. It's my fault you're here. I had a choice."

"What?" he was completely lost now.

"Hotch, Morgan and another women were kidnapped as well. I had eight minutes to save three people and I didn't save you." he suddenly understood the purpose of the first timer in his prison. He was suddenly wrried about their welfare. He had seen Hotch but was Morgan alright?

"Are they okay?" he asked anxiously. She wanted to laugh at his selflessness.

"Aren't you mad at me?" she asked looking at him in the eye, trying to find a shed of hatred but finding none.

"No." he said matter of factly. "You did what you had to. It's not like you put us in there in the first place."

The tears overflowed from her eyes at this. She hadn't realised this but she wanted, no needed him to be mad at her. He moved to comfort her and took her hand in his and started speaking calming words. She looked at her hand and then back up at him.

"Calm down, it's okay. We're all safe."

**...**

**This is my last chapter so I'm sorry but there will be no more updates. Thanks for reading this to the end and reviewing it. I'm thinking of writing another Reid based story so please read that when I put it up xx**

**PS sorry for taking this off earlier, had ssome technical difficulties xx **


	12. Life goes on

**Hi, just so you know I wasn't planning on writing another chapter because I liked the way I left it. It leaves more to the imagination and I have written this purely to satisfy lolyncut, so here's chapter 12 xx Enjoy!**

**...**

TWO WEEKS LATER

"I'm fine Garcia. You can trust me to be safe for five minutes." Reid said into the phone.

He had been released from the hospital a week ago but was only returning to work at the BAU that morning. The technical analyst had developed a habit of calling him at every given oppurtunity to make sure he was safe and, frankly, Reid was sick of it. At least back at work his overly protective friend could watch him from surveillence cameras without disturbing him.

"Are you leaving your apartment now?" she asked.

"Yes and I'll come straight to your office as soon as I get there." he reassured wondering if he could quickly grab a cup of coffee first.

"Have you taken your meds?" she asked again. Reid had tried to convince himself that he didn't need them but without taking them regularly everything he did made him ache.

"Yes."

"Do you have your gun?"

"Yes."

"Keys?"

"Yes."

"Phone."

"Yes." this was becoming extremely tedious.

"Is it charged?" she asked in a motherly tone.

"Seriously?" he asked not wanting to admit that he only had about another hour of battery life left before it went dead.

"I just want you to be safe." she said her tone lighter than before.

"I am. I'll see you in a minute." he said about to hang up.

"You'd better." she huffed.

"Bye Garcia."

He hung up the phone before she could find another reason to keep him on the line for longer. As he left his apartment he couldn't help but wonder when Garcia had turned from a protective friend to the equivelent of a paranoid girlfriend.

He walked down the main road towards the subway, passing many cars filled with people rushing to get to work on time. He moved as far from the rushing cars as the pavement would allow trying to shield himself from the questioning glares of the drivers. The unwanted attention made him want to turn back and take his usual combination of back roads and alley ways but he had promised Garcia that he would stay as visable as humanly possible. It seemed stupid to him but he did admit to himself that this was a more efficient way of getting to his desired destination.

**...**

Walking out of the elevator he couldn't help but smile at the scene in front of him. Through the glass doors Emily Prentiss could easily be seen teasing a very frustrated Derek Morgan. Morgan still couldn't move his arms around to much, due to the stab wound he had sustained, and Prentiss was using this to her full advantage as she dangled a cookie above his head.

"Stop taunting him." he laughed as he walked past the pair and towards his disused desk. The pile of folders on it seemed to be considerably larger than when he left.

"Nice to see you back here Reid." Prentiss said, flashing him a smile whilst continuing to taunt the older agent.

"Pretty boy, make her stop." Morgan said giving Reid a pounting look. At this he walked towards Emily and snatched the cookie from her hand but instead of handing it back to Morgan the temptation was to strong and he shoved it into his mouth and started chewing the sweet buscuit.

"Hey!" Morgan moaned as Prentiss burst out laughing, clutching her stomache. Finishing the cookie he walked towards the brake room to fix himself a well needed cup of coffee. It might seem weird but one of the things he missed most about this job was the bitter coffee.

After spooning in three tea spoons of sugar he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. For a minute he was cofused but then remembering the time he realised it was Sophie. She had started the habit of calling or texting him at least once a day but unlike Garcia this was reassurence for her own health rather than his. He had found out that she self harmed the second day he was regularly conscious and he was continually being thanked for helping her cut out the habit. Nothing helps you respect life like a near death experience, he thought.

About to reply to her text he heard the familiar clicking of heals come up behind him and then felt a magazine being smacked around the back of his head. "Ow!" he said spinning around and facing an extremely annoyed Garcia.

"What do you call this?" she asked in a raised voice.

Still confused he answered, "Coffee, what does it look like?" Garcia sighed.

"You promised me that you would come to me office the minute you got in." she accused.

"Well I got side tracked." he said smiling at the memory.

"Yeah, I saw that. I baked those especially for my Chocolate Adonis you know."

"For the record they were one of the best cookies I've ever tasted." he joked.

"Well dah." she said blushing slightly at the complement and returning to her quirky self. "I have some more for you in my office if you want them."

Reid beamed at the offer but the happiness was short lived as JJ stepped into the break room and interrupted the pair. "Guys, we've got a case and it's a bad one." she said with a thrown before ducking back out.

"And life goes on." Reid said as Garcia giggled and headed back to her bat cave whilst he grabbed his coffee and strolled towards the conference room. It was as if Nicolas James had ever existed.

**...**

**Are you happy now?**


End file.
